A Song for Two
by Edlinklover
Summary: She was his one and only audience, but he didn't mind. At least there was someone willing to listen. Oliver/Yuki friendship.
The boy was a strange one from the start.

He smiled a wide smile that stretched from ear to ear with short blond hair that framed his childish face. Strangest of all were the bandages wrapped around his body, even hiding his left eye.

When he first approached her, he tipped his blue and white sailor cap with a sort of courteous bow and a "How do you do, Miss?"

Yuki stared, her eyes red and puffy. What else could she have done? Until that moment, she had been sitting on a park bench, sniffling and wiping at her tears but minding her own business.

With that characteristic grin of his, he introduced himself as "Oliver, and don't you forget it!" and pulled his hat back over his head.

"If you give me a tune, I'll make it worth your while," he smiled.

A small bird fluttered around his shoulders until it finally took a rest upon his head.

With a sniffle, she asked, "What songs do you know?"

Still smiling, he said, "Better yet, what songs _don't_ I know?"

She laughed a little and the boy beamed in response.

"Well, since you don't have a song to give me, I guess I gotta pick something extra special for you then, huh?" He glanced up at his bird. "Isn't that right, James?"

The bird somehow seemed pleased with this.

"Hmm-what have I got..." Tucking his hands behind his back, he paced around in thought, rocking from step to step.

Stopping suddenly, he perked up. "I got one!"

He spun around to face the young girl and grinned. "This will be a real good one, I promise you that!"

Then he fell silent, still, and as if it was programmed in him to do so, he began to sing and dance, skipping around and his bird leaving its resting place in favor of circling him as he did.

The voice lifting into the air was not quite human but not quite emotionless either, and Yuki felt her eyes light up as the lyrics and melody spoke of happier times, the energy showing in the spring of his step.

She was his only audience up until his final bow, where she then stood from her seat and clapped until her hands were red.

"How was that?" he asked, his golden eye gleaming.

"It was amazing!" Her cheeks hurt from smiling.

He beamed at her, obviously pleased. "I'm glad."

* * *

Seeing each other became a daily occurrence. As a matter of fact, it became what Yuki looked forward to most at the end of the day, just before sunset, the way it had been the day they first met.

Oliver was surprisingly good at Japanese for a foreigner, she had noted, but she herself wasn't very good at English, so he began to teach her sometimes, singing her songs and telling her what they meant.

In return, she tried teaching him math, one of her best subjects, but no matter what she did, he was never able to grasp it.

"You've never been to school before?" she asked one day puzzled, closing her math journal after yet another failed attempt.

He shook his head. "What for?"

Yuki scrunched up her face. "Your parents just let you do whatever you want?"

Oliver blinked. "What parents?

She was taken aback. "You mean you don't have parents? Then who takes care of you?"

The boy leaned into his seat and stared into the sky, pondering over this and letting out a low hum of thought. "My creator, I guess." He turned his head away from her. "Though it's been a while since I've last seen him"

She studied him for a bit but soon decided she wasn't interested in pursuing the topic further.

* * *

The early summer dissolved into fall, and the fall turned into winter. No matter how cold it got, the boy's outfit never changed, but it gradually grew more and more tattered.

"Oliver!" Yuki shouted to him in excitement from across the park, clutching her journal and running to him. The snow ate at her boots with every step.

Having been seated on the usual park bench, Oliver looked up and blinked at her. "What is it?"

Hopping excitedly, she proudly declared, "I've decided that when I grow up, I'm going to be a singer!"

With the same level of excitement on his face, he beamed. "Really?"

Nodding excitedly, she swept away the snow on the space beside him and sat down, spreading out her journal across her lap.

"Lookit! I even started writing my own songs!"

Oliver peered over and stared at it with awe. "That's real amazing Yuki!" He then shrunk away with a sheepish smile. "I could never write my own songs. All I'm good for is singing."

Yuki looked down at her journal and kicked her legs. "Well-I'm no good at writing my own songs yet, but I want to be." She looked over at Oliver. "One day, I hope I can sing one of them with you."

He looked surprised, as if singing with someone was an entirely new concept. That surprise quickly melted into a warm smile. "Yeah, of course. It'll happen one day."

A snowflake fell from above, turning their attention to the grey sky.

"Oh, it's snowing." Yuki stuck out her tongue and let the snow melt on it. "Doesn't taste like much."

Looking back at Oliver, she blinked a few times.

A face unlike his usual self had settled upon him, painting his expression the color of melancholy.

"Say Yuki-"

She didn't respond but he continued anyway.

"If there comes a day I can't come to this park anymore, I'd rather you not be sad."

He looked at her, his lips gently curved. "I'd be happier if you could still be smiling."

There were no words she could think of to say, so she nodded. At this, Oliver seemed satisfied enough.

"Hey, about those songs of yours-could you sing one for me?"

* * *

The weeks kept passing by, and Oliver no longer danced the way he used to. He was reluctant to move at all from his seat on the bench these days but blamed it on his laziness("Just been getting tired, y'know?").

His bird never came to visit anymore, although it _was_ the winter months and Yuki figured he just migrated.

Even though he'd look and smile at the stories and songs she wrote in her journal, he constantly spaced out and then would quickly apologize when he realized it.

He still would read over her shoulder sometimes and tell her she had a shot at being a writer too.

He would read them and read them until one day, he couldn't.

"I can't see," he said that day, "I can't see anymore."

Too stunned to ask why, Yuki burst into tears and threw her arms around him while he stared blankly, his hands patting her back as she cried. When she finally pulled away, she realized even his fingers were bandaged now too and the tears streamed back down her face.

Without a word, he let her cry until he heard her breathing begin to even.

"Yuki, please listen to me." He looked up at where her face should be, searching for the eyes he couldn't see.

Hesitating, he forced himself to continue. "I'm running out of time. I didn't want to scare you but I can't avoid it now that it's gotten this bad." He closed his eye. "There's nothing I can do, so at the very least, let me sing you one last song."

With that, a fragile melody was brought out to drift along the biting breath of winter air, mingling with the snow as it danced around them. There was no more tears left for her to cry, so Yuki sat in silence as she recognized this familiar tune. Why, the person who wrote it was none other than herself.

His voice was like a crystal, and she feared if she breathed too deeply, it would shatter and the ending would be lost forever.

When the song reached the final note, time started again. The dancing snow fell like it always did and the breath of winter air was nothing more than the wind.

Gathering the courage to speak, Yuki swallowed her fear.

"Why did you sing this song-?" she managed to ask. "I've only sang it for you once."

The boy smiled gently. "You gave me a tune, so I made it worth your while. Simple as that." With that, he closed his eye. "I remember every song I've ever heard, because that's what I was made to do."

He folded his hands across his lap. "Even if that's the last song I could sing for you, I'm glad I could manage it. Only the best for my one and only audience." Opening his eye, he looked at her. "And for my one and only friend."

A pang of sorrow struck the little girl's heart as a feeling of dread crept upon her. She desperately wanted this to be a dream.

"Say," he started again, "Do you think androids can be reborn?" He spoke so casually, as if he had no fear of death. "I think I'd like to be your friend again in another life. Though that's silly of me to think but hey-what's wrong with an android having a few dreams too, huh?"

"It's not silly," she blurted out, unable to stay silent anymore. "There's nothing wrong with that. I really-" Her voice cracked so she drew in a deep breath and took a hold of his hand; it was ice cold. "I really hope we can meet again someday, Oliver. You're the bestest friend I could ever have."

The light that had shone in the android's eye had long since vanished, but one final time, it lit up the gold of his iris as a ghost of a smile flashed across his face before it faded. The light, the smile-it was all gone.

Oliver the broken android was no more.

* * *

The town sometimes spoke of a man who created a boy who could do nothing but sing and dance. He'd sing with that robotic voice he possessed with all of the emotions he had borrowed from humans, even though no one wanted to hear such a thing.

The years passed by and swept the man away, leaving the boy with nothing but his companion-a simple little bird.

Standing in the park, he'd offer a song, to which many people would decline, labeling him a strange kid and moving on with their day.

Without proper maintenance, his body began breaking down, to the point where bandages were what was holding him together and hiding his mechanical parts.

No one cared for him. No one knew what became of the little android until he was found on a park bench after the snow had thawed.

They disposed of him, figuring that there was no one who cared enough about his "death" to want to bury him anyway.

Yet every day since then, a ring of flowers could be seen resting where his body had been discovered.

Clearly crafted by the clumsy fingers of a child, a new one could be found every day. And once in a while, a small bird flutters along and pays it a visit.


End file.
